Published: Friday, October 18, 2013 at 07:54 PM.

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On Thursday, deputies learned why, arresting three people on suspicion of murder after one of the suspects led them deep into the woods, where they found the body of the 70-year-old Bayou George man in a shallow grave off Steelfield Road.

Investigators with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office arrested Lottie Moore, 63, David Clanton, 33, and Mary Clanton, 26, and charged each with an open count of murder. They are being held without bond in the Bay County Jail, accused of killing Moore while he slept.

Lottie Moore reported her husband missing Sept. 9, and investigators conducted extensive searches to find him. The case was investigated as a missing person case until Thursday because Arthur Moore had a history of leaving without telling his family and at least one suicide attempt.

Investigators said at a press conference Friday morning the trio had a relatively sophisticated plan to fool authorities, including fabricating alibis. Capt. Jimmy Stanford said they even went so far as to appear in surveillance video footage and make phone calls to corroborate their alibis.

“They covered their tracks pretty well,” Stanford said. “They did a lot of things that kind of led the investigation away from them and toward him being a person who just walked away.”

All four lived together on Stauber Road, off Campflowers Road. They told investigators Moore had left the house Sept. 9 around 6:15 a.m. after an argument with David Clanton, leaving his keys, vehicle and wallet behind. Family members said they were concerned because Arthur Moore didn’t have his medication and wouldn’t normally go out in such heat.

On Thursday, deputies learned why, arresting three people on suspicion of murder after one of the suspects led them deep into the woods, where they found the body of the 70-year-old Bayou George man in a shallow grave off Steelfield Road.

Investigators with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office arrested Lottie Moore, 63, David Clanton, 33, and Mary Clanton, 26, and charged each with an open count of murder. They are being held without bond in the Bay County Jail, accused of killing Moore while he slept.

Lottie Moore reported her husband missing Sept. 9, and investigators conducted extensive searches to find him. The case was investigated as a missing person case until Thursday because Arthur Moore had a history of leaving without telling his family and at least one suicide attempt.

Investigators said at a press conference Friday morning the trio had a relatively sophisticated plan to fool authorities, including fabricating alibis. Capt. Jimmy Stanford said they even went so far as to appear in surveillance video footage and make phone calls to corroborate their alibis.

“They covered their tracks pretty well,” Stanford said. “They did a lot of things that kind of led the investigation away from them and toward him being a person who just walked away.”

All four lived together on Stauber Road, off Campflowers Road. They told investigators Moore had left the house Sept. 9 around 6:15 a.m. after an argument with David Clanton, leaving his keys, vehicle and wallet behind. Family members said they were concerned because Arthur Moore didn’t have his medication and wouldn’t normally go out in such heat.

Sheriff Frank McKeithen commended his investigators for following up a “bizarre tip” that led to the arrests. The investigation took a turn Thursday when deputies talked to a man from Minnesota who said he’d had a conversation in which David Clanton jokingly described choking his father-in-law to death in his bed and burying his body in the woods. They re-interviewed Clanton, and he confessed to killing Moore at Lottie Moore’s request, authorities reported.

“They didn’t like him. He was mean, is what they said. … Some things like this you can’t explain,” Stanford said.

Lottie Moore asked David Clanton to kill her husband because she was tired of his verbal abuse, and she gave him rope to strangle him, according to court records, but he used his hands instead. Mary Clanton, Arthur Moore’s daughter, helped her husband carry the body by opening doors for him, according to the documents.

“They were all there when this murder happened,” Stanford said. “They were all part of this murder.”

Mary Clanton, who was pregnant at the time of the killing, told investigators she had never seen her mother happier than after Arthur Moore was dead, Stanford said.

None of the three have any significant criminal history, officials said.

WEST BAY — Investigators have arrested three relatives of a man missing for more than a month on suspicion of strangling the 70-year-old while he slept and burrying his body in the woods.

Lottie Jean Moore, 63, Mary Elizabeth Clanton, 26, and David Lee Clanton Jr., 33, were arrested Thursday and booked into the Bay County Jail on an open count of murder. Investigators with the Bay County Sheriff's Office said at a press conference Friday morning David Clanton strangled his father-in-law, 70-year-old Arthur Edward Moore, in his bed late Sept. 8 or early Sept. 9 while the two women looked on.

The family reported Moore missing on Sept. 9 and the case was investigated as a missing person case until a break in the case Thursday. Investigators said David Clanton confessed and led them to the body.

The alleged killers had a "pretty well thought-out plan," said Capt. Jimmy Stanford.

Crime scene technicians and investigators with the Medical Examiner's Office worked through the night and into Friday morning excavating Moore's body in a wooded area off Steelfield Road.

This is a developing story. Check back later for more details.

WEST BAY — Authorities have arrested the wife, daughter and son-in-law of a man whose body was found in the woods off Steelfield Road early Friday.

Arthur Edward Moore, 70, of Stauber Lane in Bayou George, had been missing since the morning of Sept. 9, according to a Bay County Sheriff's Office news release. Family members contacted authorities later that day after he didn't return home. He had left home without additional clothing, his cellphone, wallet, vehicle, keys, cigarettes and medications. Moore had serious health problems and required his medication; the release also noted Moore usually avoids going out in the heat.

At a news conference Friday, Bay County Sheriff's investigators said they arrested Moore's wife, daughter and son-in-law, each of whom are in the Bay County Jail charged with an open count of murder.

Check back shortly for more details from the press conference

Below are earlier versions of this story:

WEST BAY — Investigators called a news conference Friday morning after finding the body of a missing person off Steelfield Road.

Arthur Edward Moore, 70, of Stauber Lane in Bayou George, had been missing since the morning of Sept. 9, according to a Bay County Sheriff's Office news release. Family members contacted authorities later that day after he didn't return home. He had left home without additional clothing, his cellphone, wallet, vehicle, keys, cigarettes and medications. Moore had serious health problems and required his medication; the release also noted Moore usually avoids going out in the heat.

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WEST BAY — Investigators were working the scene of a body found off Steelfield Road on Friday morning.

The Bay County Sheriff's Office has called a press conference for 10 a.m. to release details on a missing person case. Arthur Edward Moore, 70, of Bayou George, was reported missing Sept. 9. A press release says his disappearance is now being worked as a homicide.

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